First off, I LOVE MY NEW NS!! i think I'm going call her "ennis", just for ease and it seems to fit.

I've noticed that when I'm plucking the strings with my right hand, there is a click. I know it's the string at my left hand hitting the next fret up just enough to make the click noise but not enough to change pitch or deaden the string in any way. Has anyone else had this issue?

My right hand will have to lighten up considerably as well as my approach to plucking the string...rather than across the string like with a conventional bass, I'll have to almost pluck upwards and with alot less strength.

Either that or I raise the action, and I'm not sure I want to do that quite yet.

Can anyone else offer insight or do I just have to practice 5 hours a day, which would be very cool as well. Thanks!

Hi Ian - Congratulations on your new NS!

Plucking fingerstyle on the NS takes a light touch. A very light touch. If you haven't already, check out Don Schiff's little tutorial on getting started with the instrument: http://www.nsstickist.com/nstech1.htm

It may seem real rudimentary, but it really helped me get a sense of the instrument when I was starting out with it. I had played upright bass a long while ago so I really needed to relax and lighten up when I started with the NS.

Also, it's entirely possible, even though I'm sure the instrument left Emmett's shop excellently set up, that your neck might have changed due to climate differences. You might need to adjust your truss slightly, adjust your action, or both. Check out this awesome thread on set-up: http://www.stickist.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=2311

Great thing about the NS is that none of these adjustments are difficult at all.

Hope this helps!

Thanks for the reply, and I will definitely check out Don's tutorial! However I have found the issue to be the click coming from my finger landing on the string next to it. For example, I play the A string, and the finger that just plucked that string ends up resting on the E string, making that click.

I'll be darned! So now I have to unlearn 20 years of right hand technique, lighten up my touch even more than I thought I was as well as alter my approach in finger plucking the string.

I have a few ideas involving my hand resting more on the strings and using my thumb, index and ring finger in tandem. This shows merit as it forces my right hand to relax; the thumb has equal weight to the other 2 fingers and the placement of my wrist on the NS forces the fingers to pluck in a slight upward motion avoiding the next string all together.

The other idea I have isn't as good as it requires a change to something so natural to me. It involves the 2 fingers but with plucking motion being in a more upward movement, not across as usual plucking. That feels very unusual...

OR simply raise the action of the 1st 4 strings! When I had an NS Stick I used it as a bass guitar / two hand tapping instrument in a cover rock band for over a year. I found since my left hand fingers were already very strong I was able to raise the bridge screws a full turn up making the instrument very good for finger style bass playing and was still able to tap the bass strings with my left hand no problem. The instrument is a "Compromise" between a bass/guitar and a tapping instrument so you have to find the right balance for your style action wise. Again for MY style I raised the 4 bass strings from the bridge screws a full turn up and left the top "melody strings" as low as possbile for right hand tapping.

Good luck finding the right balance for you! You'll find it!

Yes, I tried the string raising a half then a full turn on the first 4 strings, and then all 8 but I found it lost some...character? That's not the right word. You're clearly a better player then I am but I found the tapping much more difficult with the action raised. So it went back down and we're back to square one, so to speak! I really want to explore the NS in the settings given to me. Gary Jibilian and Emmett Chapman did a wonderful job. Time to explore.

But I will come back to my right hand now. By using the thumb, and index and ring finger, the click is gone, the touch is light and full of dynamics. It's pretty large if I lean into it even just a little bit.

The other thing I've done is detune the high F and Bb down to E and A. Now I have a six string bass or a guitar tuned A/D/G/C/E/A. I think it's either a tenor or baritone tuning. Whatever, it sounds huge. Fingering a "D" chord is actually a "G" now and again, very rich and full.